Flirting With Chaos (31 page)

“Damn.” Maestro rubbed his face.

Jude moved to my side and leaned back on one of the glass walls. “She sounds like heaven, doesn’t she?”

“Hell yes,” Maestro murmured.

I twisted the bottom of my shorts in my hand.

“I had to put that in a song.” Jude closed his eyes and exhaled. “Her orgasm is a beautiful instrument, probably the best one on earth.”

My moans lowered, stopped for a second, started, and then ceased again, only to return with more strength. Soon, my moaning poured out of the speakers in a pattern that served as the beat. From my peripheral, I noticed Maestro bopping his head. I turned Jude’s way and caught him with his eyes open as he longingly stared at my breasts.

An electronic piano note came in next. Just one note. Each time the beating of my moans stopped, the piano note chimed in and added to the cadence. It was almost like the piano stroked my sounds of pleasure. Another instrument let out a smooth, taunting tune that triggered thoughts of sex to dance in my mind—Jude’s mouth enveloping my nipple and his fingers between my thighs, teasing. There was no doubt in my mind that he had a gift with music and merging sounds together that no one would ever consider trying.

“This style kind of reminds me of Radiohead.” Maestro appeared amazed.

“I’m a big fan of their work. I love the way they test out various noises and make it theirs.” The whole time Jude spoke, he centered his attention on me.

And then his singing started, and all the conversation ended.

“She changed the game when she came to me one night.”
His voice rode the waves of my moaning.
“She smelled like a ripe apple and offered me a chance for one bite.”

I bit my lip and squeezed my thighs together, trying to calm down the pulsing of my clit.

“That fruit made me hunger and teased me down to my soul,”
he sang.
“So lush, so plump, I yearned for her. She was warmth from the cold.”

I ran my shivering fingers through my hair. “I’ll be right back.”

“I should’ve never tasted her, never taken a bite.”
His singing became more intense.
“It all changed when her fruit hit my tongue, when she came all over me that night.”

Jude licked his lips. “Don’t leave.”

“I just need to catch my breath.” I opened the door and rushed to the bedroom. My moaning drifted out of the studio and followed me, as well as Jude’s seductive voice.

“And she’s surrounding me. She’s ripping me apart.”
His voice shifted to a scream of insanity.
“Oh, baby! She’s encasing me with her love. She’s seeped into my heart.”

Moonlight poured in through the bus’s window. I kept the lights off and paced back and forth in the small bedroom with no escape. The song sounded louder. My moaning increased as Jude’s singing died out to only the sounds of my orgasm and the piano’s note.

His singing returned.
“And she’s surrounding me. She’s ripping me apart. Oh, baby! She’s encasing me with her love. She’s seeped into my heart.”

And then this explosion of guitars began. Hard-hitting riffs accompanied by a heart-pounding bass. Just like Jude’s song “Downpour,” I got this immediate rush to my head like I was under the influence of some heavy stuff. Prickles of need spread all over my flesh. My arousal saturated my panties.

I paced until the song finished and then, as if to torture me some more, it came back on, louder than before.

How can he do this to me? How can his freaking music take control of my body like this?

“Did you leave because you hated the song?”

I paused from pacing and turned to see Jude standing in the doorway. Shadows hid his face.

“It’s incredible.” I placed my shaking hands behind my back. “You’re more talented than our fathers ever were.”

Step by step, he prowled my way. “Then why did you leave the studio?”

“It was uncomfortable being in there and having the reaction I had from your song.”

“It turned you on?”

“Yes.”

He moved around me in a circle. The moonlight hit his face a few times and then light flickered back to darkness. His woodsy cologne looped around my senses. My nipples ached, and my flesh yearned to be free for him to touch and taste, bite and devour.

He stopped in front of me and towered over my hungry body. “You only kissed Maestro? Nothing else?”

I lifted my head and looked into his eyes. “Yes.”

“I don’t like that. I’m not happy that anybody else had their mouth on your lips.”

I inched back. “I didn’t like the idea of you making love to two women tonight either.”

“You think I made love to them?” He closed the distance between us and trapped me into his arms. “One gave me a blow job. Then, I fucked the other from behind while the first one watched. At no point was I ever making love to them.”

“You’re disgusting.” I smelled the scent of gin on his breath.

“This is who I am. Women are in my face every moment of my life. Some I fuck. Some I don’t. But regardless, no one matters but you.”

“That’s not enough.”

“I never thought it would be. I knew I was running on borrowed time with you from the very beginning. We live different lives.”

“And I’m not enough for you, basically?”

He let out an evil laugh. “Rainy, you’re more than I can even handle in one life. I love you more than I love myself.”

“Don’t say that.” I looked away.

“Can I make love to you right now?”

I thought about Maestro being on the bus and Jude just confessing what he had done with those girls. “No.”

He stepped close to me. “Can I taste you?”

I bit my lip. “No.”

“Hmm. I asked to be nice, but we both know I don’t have to ask with you, don’t we? Your body craves me, doesn’t it?”

“No.”

“You’re lying. I’m going to take off your clothes and lick you until you’re dry and exhausted.”

He unsnapped the back of my corset, one tortuous snap at a time. His hands were wet. My corset dropped to the ground. My breasts fell heavy in front of me as my stiff nipples pointed his way. He cupped my breast, and I almost died right there as my pussy clenched. He smeared whatever liquid was on his fingers into my breasts, massaging them.

“Why are your hands so wet?” I groaned.

He buried his face into my neck and sucked. “They’re probably bloody.”

“What?”

“I didn’t like him kissing you.” He fondled my nipples, delivering hot sparks through me.

I moved his hands away. “What does that mean? What did you do?”

“You have every right to do things with other men.” He didn’t touch me anymore and just studied me with a weary gaze. “Just never let me know who touched you.”

“Why not? What happened?”

He didn’t say anything else.

My pulse sped up. I covered my breasts with my arms and hurried out of the bedroom. Jude didn’t try to stop me as I pushed through the curtains.

The song blasted louder. He must’ve put it on repeat. A peculiar odor hit me first. Blood drops sprayed the studio’s glass walls.

Dear, God. Please say these are delusions. Please say the blood isn’t real.

The door was half open. Maestro lay face down, unmoving.

“No, Jude. What did you do?” I asked as I stepped over Maestro’s legs.

A groan sounded beneath me, and I jumped back, startled.

Maestro slowly turned over, revealing two swollen eyes. Blood leaked out of his busted lips and flowed from his nose. He sat on the floor like a drunk man who’d fought three guys at once “That motherfucker caught me by surprise,” he screeched. “Sucker punch.”

“T-Bone!” I ran out of the studio with no time to grab a shirt to cover my upper body. “T-Bone!”

The bus rocked as T-Bone’s massive body stormed onto the bus.

“What happened, Rain?” He spotted the blood smeared around my neck from Jude touching me. “Did he hurt you!?”

“No. He beat up Maestro.”

“Motherfucker!” He wrenched his phone out and dialed some numbers.

I tried to hurry back to Maestro and make sure he was okay.

“Hell no, Rain. Get over here!” T-Bone quickly pulled off his shirt and handed it to me. “Please get outside. Jude’s mind is gone right now. Let me make sure he’s okay before he does something else stupid.”

I rushed to put the shirt on. It hung down close to my knees. “But—”

“There’s no fucking ‘but’ about it. Earlier tonight, as soon as he realized you were off with someone else, he started getting himself as messed up as he could.” He led me away and hauled me down the stairs. “I have no idea half of the things he’s even on right now.”

Maestro’s guard waited for us to get off before running on the bus. T-Bone explained what had happened in between the commotion.

“Do you want me to call an ambulance?” I asked. Every once in a while, I would let my gaze linger to the bedroom window where I knew Jude stood.

“No way. Neither of them will want any authorities involved. It’s just a guess, but I bet I’m right.”

“Okay,” I whispered. I hadn’t stopped shaking since I’d spotted the blood.

How could Jude do this? He just beat the crap out of him, as if that was the most natural reaction to have.

I hugged myself, feeling cold even though it was a summer night.

This is too much. Jude is too much like Dad. I can’t deal with this.

And still the song played as Maestro’s guard carried him off the coach, and T-Bone yelled into the phone. Jude’s lyrics penetrated the bus’s walls and floated out to me while I stood outside in T-Bone’s huge shirt.

“And she’s surrounding me. She’s ripping me apart. Oh, baby! She’s encasing me with her love. She’s seeped into my heart.”

Chapter 23

Out, Damned Spot. Out, I Say!

“M
A’AM
, W
E’VE
A
LREADY
S
ENT
a bottle of cleaner up to you.” The hotel front desk receptionist sounded accusing, like she was insinuating that something was wrong with me. “Miss Kenner, if you believe the room is dirty, then we can send up a maid to—”

“I didn’t ask for a maid,” I said. “I would just like some more cleaning supplies.”

“To clean what?”

“Really? I pay three hundred dollars a night for this room, and I can’t ask for a two dollar bottle of bleach to be delivered to me?”

“Ma’am, we’re just concerned that—”

“I’m not destroying the room. You know what? Never mind. Forget I asked.” I slammed the phone down and paced. The shower curtain trailed behind me. I tugged it up over my breasts and tried to tighten the belt over the make-shift curtain dress I’d made so it wouldn’t fall down.

I bet the maid is why they’re acting all strange now.

When she’d brought me the cleaner, I’d heard her muttering in Spanish as she set the bottle down. Little did she know, I was from Miami, where Spanish was the first freaking language of the city. I knew enough to gather that she’d found my shower curtain dress a bit crazy and figured I was high as a kite on a tornado-stricken day.

I could ask T-Bone to get another bottle, but he’ll just curse me out, scream that there isn’t any blood, and preach about how Jude and I need help. I don’t need help. I need cleaning supplies!

Blood leaked down my hotel suite’s walls as well as coated the desk, phone, chairs, couch, and bed. That crimson liquid shifted the blue carpet to a sticky purple. Everywhere was red. My footprints trailed through it. The room reeked with it, clogging my nose and making me choke every few seconds. I’d opened all the windows. Every surface seemed hot and sticky, closing in on me and suffocating me. Cleaning helped. The blood would go for a while, at least an hour or so, but it always came back. I picked up the bottle and shook it. Only a little liquid remained.

Knocking sounded at the door.

“Thank God!” Perhaps the hotel had decided to give me a break and just send up the cleaner anyway. I grasped at the ends of the plastic on my dress and ran to the front door, avoiding the river of blood that streamed out of the open closet door. I’d handle that first, as soon as I got the supplies. I opened the door.

Jude stood on the other side in a black hooded jacket with sunglasses wrapped around his face. Drops of blue rain bordered the shades. He kept his hands in his pockets. “Can I come in?”

I hadn’t seen him since the moment before I’d found Maestro beat up. T-Bone had made Jude stay away from me until he sobered up and came down from whatever high he was on. Plus, I wasn’t sure what to do about him anymore.

“I don’t want to argue, so if you’re coming in here to yell or fight, it’s not going to happen.” I moved out of the way to let him in. The door slammed behind me.